A mom's adventures in keeping healthy, keeping her sanity, and making stuff.

Baby Food Basics (8 – 12 months)

Disclaimer! I am NOT a pediatrician. These recipes worked for me, but may not work for you. I was very cautious about giving my baby new foods (he did not even have cereal until he was about 6 months old). Please consult with your pediatrician if you have any concerns over any of the foods I list.

Books I recommend:

The Baby Bistro Cookbook by Joohee Muromcew

Babies should be primarily fed breastmilk or formula until 6 months of age. From my experience, most pediatricians will also recommend waiting until 6 months before starting on rice cereal – but I have read a few sources which say it is perfectly fine to start on cereal at 4 months of age. Be sure to talk to your pediatrician about the best times to start baby on certain foods.

Some definate NO-NO’s for babies under 1 year:

egg whites

peanut products

tree nut products

strawberries (especially if your family has a history of strawberry allergies)

honey

milk/dairy

Usually at about 8 months of age, your pediatrician may give you some more leeway in foods. Hence the reason why I am starting my list for 8 – 12 months. S/he may allow you to start giving your baby egg yolks and meat at this time. However, babies do not require meat at this age (especially since nursing/bottle feeding should continue on a regular basis for up to 1 year), and it could pose a choking hazard.

Ok, now that that is out of the way – here are the products I always tried to keep on hand:

frozen peas

frozen green beans

frozen corn

butternut squash

sweet potatoes

avocados

couscous

rice

black beans (or other legumes): canned are easier, but dried will work also

frozen raspberries

frozen peaches

bananas: lol “nana” was my son’s fourth word

applesauce: you can find “natural” applesauce which is low in sugar.

baby cereal

formula: Sol was primarily breastfed, but I found it handy keeping formula on hand in case I needed to mix up some cereal quickly.

a small selection of store bought baby foods: they may be flavorless, but they do come in handy if travelling about or if you leave your baby with someone else for a couple of hours.